Variable length wrenches have been devised to change the torque capacity of the wrench, but have not found significant success in the opening and closing of sewer clean-out, plugs which specifically have a nut size of about 1 ⅞ inches. The problem in unscrewing these clean-out plugs is they tend to bind up over time due to seal material and age. It is common for these plugs to require an extender such as a metal tube to slide over the handles of the standard pipe wrench to achieve and supply the torque a human operator can apply to the sticking clean-out plug nut.
In many cases these plugs are located in basement or outdoor locations where such handle extensions can be utilized with sufficient space. There are, however, instances or locations where such tube extenders cannot be used due to adjacent structures such as walls or piping. To accommodate these tight locations, this present outer section is axially separable into two sub-sections so one sub-section can be laid aside and the other remains on the wrench handle to significantly reduce the retracted length of the wrench handle for tight situations.
The following references have been found in a preliminary search of this product:
Stoops, U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,935, issued Aug. 8, 1978
Holloway, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,281, issued Mar. 8, 1988
Ball, U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,167, issued Apr. 19, 1988
Hedden, U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,940, issued Jun. 8, 1993
Baker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,820, issued Mar. 14, 1995
Tsai, U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,396, issued Jun. 18, 2002
Foster, U.S. Pat. No. 6,959,465, issued Nov. 1, 2005
Picone, U.S. Pat. No. 7,114,824, issued Oct. 3, 2006
Hsien, U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,431, issued Feb. 20, 2007
Lin, U.S. Pat. No. 7,878,094, issued Feb. 1, 2011
Cheng, U.S. Pat. No. 9,248,554, issued Feb. 2, 2016
Hernandez, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 9,266,232, issued Feb. 23, 2016
In addition to the above United States Patents, the following web sites are also relevant:
Web Sites: http//:/jet.com—4/1/2016;                www.aliexpress.com—3/19/2016        www.ecsi4gas.com—3/19/2016        https:/sites.google.com/site/brucekcampbell/ home/pipe-wrench-handle-extender—3/19/2016        
Particular attention should be directed to the tools shown in the ⅜″ Extendable Ratchet Handle intending Extension Wrench in jet.com/product/detail.
It is a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted about in pipe wrenches.